The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Board (MHADB) had received a lot of flak for the software it has used in last year’s lottery draw. However, the MHADB will be going ahead with the same software that it had used for the last couple of lottery draws. According to officials from the housing board, the lottery software is flawless.
“The same software will be used on Tuesday,” Mr Amarjeet Manhas, chairman of MHADB, confirmed.
According to Mr Manhas, the Bombay high court had given a clean chit to the software, when the matter came up for hearing following a public interest litigation.
He added that there was no reason for them to change the lottery software even for the housing lottery draws in the future.“There is no irregularity in the software. Why should we change the software even after a clean chit has been given to us by everyone right from the courts to information technology experts?” questioned Mr Manhas.
An Oversight Committee has been formed comprising three officials, namely — Ajay Pandey, state secretary, information technology, G. Sivkumar, professor, department of computer science and engineering, IIT-Bombay and K.K. Baam, a retired Bombay HC judge. The committee was appointed to overlook the entire lottery process and to check for irregularities. Further, Tata Consultancy Services has been appointed to carry out an audit of the software, while the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) has certified the lottery software. The D-Day for MHADB’s lottery for 3,449 homes is Tuesday. Around 220 lottery draws will be conducted on Tuesday within a span of eight to ten hours.
Last year, the MHADB had conducted a lottery draw for 3,863 homes spread across Mumbai. Some of the buildings for which the lottery draws are being conducted do not have any water connection. The connection is likely to be given by the civic body only after the monsoons or later this year.